Meet Lauren EB!

12/21/22 • 57 min

This week we caught up with our friend Lauren Erbach Barnfield! We've both known Lauren for several years but have never heard her full IBD story so it was really great to hear it all. We talked about her participation in the PIANO study which is a study about women living with IBD and taking biologics while pregnant and what all that entailed. We talked to her about finding the right treatment for her Crohn's and who choosing a biologic is intimidating especially when you can find so many negative stories on the internet. We also discussed talking to her small children about IBD, her going graduate school while living with Crohn's, having a full-time job AND a family, and about blogging about her Crohn's when she was younger. We also spent quite a bit of time talking about the importance of sharing your IBD story- even the mundane and seemingly normal parts- to help other people better understand what it's like to live with a chronic illness. And we talked a lot about the health insurance system in the US and how challenging it is to people with chronic illnesses.
Links:

A blog about the PIANO study- Natalie Hayden for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
A factsheet about Pregnancy and IBD- Crohn' s & Colitis Foundation
The book Lauren references is Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
Tips for talking to your kids about your IBD- Crohn's Colitis UK
Alicia's drink recipe- Orange Lemon Gin Cooler

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A blog about the PIANO study- Natalie Hayden for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
A factsheet about Pregnancy and IBD- Crohn' s & Colitis Foundation
The book Lauren references is Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
Tips for talking to your kids about your IBD- Crohn's Colitis UK
Alicia's drink recipe- Orange Lemon Gin Cooler

Let's get social!!
Follow us on Instagram!
Follow us on Facebook!
Follow us on Twitter!

Previous Episode

Meet Will A.!

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This week we really enjoyed hearing Will Awve's story! We talked about his diagnosis with UC in college and how that affected his college experience. We discussed him trying basically all medication options to try to control his UC, his bouts with C. Diff, and then his eventual decision to go through J-Pouch surgery. We also had a chance to talk about how your mental health and how you mentally position your disease affects your attitude and resilience. And finally we talk about how UC can create some interesting, uncomfortable, and possibly even dangerous situations when out in the wilderness.
Links:

Take Action on access to medical nutrition- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
A blog about hiking and camping with IBD- Girls with Guts
An interesting blog with tips about hiking with UC- **this blogger is not known to us- any advice and information is the author's. :)

Interested in being a guest? Email Robin at [email protected] or Alicia at [email protected] or both! Cheers!

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Next Episode

Meet Dani E.!

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We had the pleasure of getting to know Dani Edelstein in this episode! We talked to her about being diagnosed when she was only 8 years old and what it was like for her as the child of a doctor to have to navigate the medical system on her own when she got to be an adult. We discussed how the language used around IBD care can create difficulty for folks living with it- for instance when healthcare providers say that a patient has "failed" their medication. Dani talks about how that lead to patients feeling responsibility and even shame for their disease. We talked about the importance of mental health care, the differences between a loop and an end ileostomy, and so much more.
Links: